The privately owned furniture retailer demonstrated its faith in Pasco County when the firm built its first store in Port Richey 22 years ago.

Now the chain is putting its faith in Pasco again, executives said during a recent groundbreaking ceremony.

A major addition will expand the showroom at 9500 Scenic Drive by about one-third with 8,600 more square feet, regional manager Mark Liotto and store manager Stephen Chick said.

Remodeling will overhaul the existing storefront with about 16,000 square feet. The store will remain open during the project, Liotto said. The company did not specify how much will be spent on the project.

The Port Richey location will earn superstore status once construction concludes next year. Founded in 1990, Seffner-based Rooms to Go now has more than 100 stores in nine states and Puerto Rico.

“It was the smallest store we built,” said Larry Higgins, vice president of sales for Rooms to Go.

“This little store … was the number one store in all of Rooms to Go” for one recent quarter, Higgins said. Many top producers in the company hail from here.

“The value of business is the people and it’s the community that surrounds it,” Higgins said. “Through all the hard times, this community supported this store.”

“I think some exciting things are going on,” Commissioner Jack Mariano said about the investment by the company. He also mentioned addition of right-turn lanes on U.S. 19, the proposed Sunwest subdivision in Hudson and a county park on the former Sunwest mine site.